


Eggshell Promises

by floatingearth



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Action, Din and Luke REALLY Don't Get Along, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Grogu | Baby Yoda Needs a Hug, Kidnapping, Post-Season/Series 02, Protective Din Djarin, Rescue Missions, Reunions, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingearth/pseuds/floatingearth
Summary: Handing Grogu over to a Jedi was hard, but Din thought that it was the right thing to do, because the Jedi would keep the baby safe. That all changes when he finds out Grogu is in danger. A furious Din sets off alone to rescue him, but things aren't all they seem.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54
Collections: The Best Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda Whump Fics





	Eggshell Promises

**Author's Note:**

> I want Din to get his baby back and the only way I can think for that to happen and make any logical sense is if something bad happens while Grogu is with Luke. It's not Luke's fault but Din blames him anyway. I won't lie. This is self indulgence written primarily for me, though I hope you enjoy it as well.

He was fiddling with the comms when he heard something he wasn’t supposed to hear. Somehow, without even trying, he crossed paths with a transmission that could not have possibly been meant for him.

It was about Grogu. That much was abundantly clear. By some stroke of fate, he had intercepted a transmission. Once again Grogu had been taken.

Din had a child to rescue and a Jedi to fight.

“I trusted you with everything. Everything!” If it were anyone else, he would have killed him. “Useless.”

“I tried. I really did. I’m truly sorry it wasn’t enough.”

“Maybe I’d believe that if you weren’t still standing.” If the man in front of him were dead, it would mean he’d done everything he could, but the man was alive. He didn’t even look injured. Din couldn’t believe he’d ever trusted him.

“I do mean it. Sincerely. I could use your help getting him back.”

“No.” He took a shaky breath. After what had happened while Grogu was in Luke’s care, he couldn’t accept that kind of help. “No. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to borrow your ship. I’m going to get the kid. I’m going to take him very, very far away from the bastards who took him, and very, very far away from you. And _you,_ my friend? _You_ are going to let that happen.”

“You know he needs training,” Luke said. “It’ll be safer for him in the long run.”

“That’s what you told me before you let Imperials take him!” Din shook his head. “Give me the keys before I make you.”

Luke tossed them through the air. “This is your journey. I can see you need to do this alone. May the force be with you.”

The idiot seemed to get the point. Or maybe he was just feeling guilty. Then it was just Din and his thoughts in the pilot’s seat. The cockpit of the ship was cramped. For all its faults, his old ship had been built for this kind of thing. The Razor Crest was perfect for long-haul flights and a life spent mostly in the stars. This ship was for dogfights and quick trips to neighboring systems.

At least this time he had a clear destination. The initial transmission had come from Ves, a remote planet on the other side of the galaxy. Tracing it, for a man who’d spent more than half his life hunting bounties, was hardly a challenge. Security seemed fairly low on the list of Imperial priorities. So, he knew where he was going. Getting there in a ship the size of a bathtub wouldn’t be easy, but as long as it had an engine, he’d be able to fly it.

There was a familiar pattern to flying, even if this ship had all kinds of new bells and whistles. Half of them had probably been standard for ten years- the Razor Crest was almost as old as Din was. Every ship had its quirks, and this one was no different, but before long he had settled into the new routine, the bright lights of hyperspace streaking by around him.

It occurred to Din, circling the blue sands of Ves, that he was flying on a Rebel ship from the recent war to break into an Imperial lab. Landing anywhere nearby would be a disaster. Landing far away came with its own difficulties. There would be no easy getaway after he had Grogu. They would have to make their way back to the ship.

Well, he’d faced worse odds and came out alive. Din landed as softly as possible in a small crater, killing the engines. Night had fallen hours ago, plunging the blue desert into darkness. For all he knew, he was running out of time, so he didn’t wait around before heading to the complex. As he approached the lab, Din moved silently, lurking around in the shadows. Though, if they had lifeform detectors, all his work would be for nothing. They probably had lifeform detectors.

Then again, this was the lab that had accidentally let an easily traceable transmission reach him. Security was hardly one of their strong points.

In the darkness, he searched the perimeter for the ideal entrance. Din was no weak fighter, but getting through a facility like this would take a lot of stealth, especially since he was working alone. The last thing he wanted was to walk in and meet face-to-face with half a platoon of guards. The entrance he decided on was easy to overlook. Hopefully, the guards felt the same way. It was a maintenance entrance, right next to the large bin where the waste chute emptied out.

The door refused to budge. It required a key card that he didn’t have. He also didn’t have time to wait around for a chance to steal one.

The waste chute, on the other hand, did not require a key card. Din looked at the chute, then the door, then back to the chute. It had to be worth a shot.

The shaft was cramped, hot, and sticky. To climb it, he pressed his back against one wall and his feet against the other. Inch by inch, he made his way up the shaft. It was slow work, though the actual distance was not very long. Finally, finally, he reached the end, dragging himself out of the mess with a groan.

The room was dimly lit and narrower than some closets. Coiled wires and rubber tubing lined the walls. Shelves were stocked with rows of cleaning supplies. The floor was littered with miscellaneous odds and ends. He kicked a box of screws across the floor as he walked across the room. Holding his breath, Din pressed the side of his head against the unlocked door and listened to silence. So far, he seemed to be undetected.

As soon as he stepped over the threshold, though, all hell broke loose.

An alarm blared. The lights flashed nearly bright enough to blind him. The door behind him slammed shut. Blaster fire rained down from all directions. There were no guards and no droids to fire the shots. He had triggered an automatic defense system of some kind.

There was no time to worry about how doomed he was, though. Not when blaster shots singed his armor, burning skin where the beskar didn’t cover. Keeping to the ground as he ran, Din ducked into a hallway to take cover behind a wall. The turrets were able to follow him, shooting at him even as he hid just out of range. Din pulled out his blaster and took aim, taking the turrets out one by one. Sparks flew, and black smoke began to fill the hallway. Even through his helmet, his lungs burned from breathing it in, but it was worth it. Machines lying in half a dozen broken pieces couldn’t kill him.

Only after he had gotten out of that alive did it dawn on him. Everything from the alarms to the unmanned turrets was programmed long before Din arrived. The only way anyone would have known to program it was if they were waiting for him. All along, this lab had known he was coming. 

It was a trap and Din had fallen right into it.

His stomach twisted into knots. He was flying completely blind. No wonder the transmission had been so easy to trace. It had been bait. Of course it was. Everything about this had been way too easy. He should have known.

All his training, his experience, his common sense- it had all up and vanished the moment he heard that transmission. He’d walked into an Imperial complex with nothing resembling a real plan, only half-baked ideas of what he wanted. He had been too much of a desperate wreck to do anything else. That desperation would be his undoing.

He knew Grogu might not even be there. Realistically, the boy was halfway across the galaxy, if he was lucky. If not, they’d already killed him. The smart thing would be to run while he still could, but Din would never even consider it. Not when there was half a chance that Grogu was within reach. He had no choice but to try.

Someone had rigged the _maintenance entrance_ to kill him. Din doubted they would leave any part of the lab untouched. He would be no use to Grogu if he were dead. Even worse, a stray shot could kill the child. If he wanted to do any rescuing, he would have to disable the traps first.

There were unmanned blaster turrets at every major doorway. Try as he might to be a difficult target, avoiding every blast was impossible. His beskar was the only thing keeping him alive. Even when they just hit his armor, the force of the blasts sent him reeling. When the turrets got a lucky shot and hit where he was unprotected, searing, white-hot pain sliced through him.

The security center was in the exact middle of the lab. The door was made of two transparent panels, interlocking like rows of teeth. Nobody was inside. The entire building seemed to be abandoned. Anything they did to him was operated remotely. They could get as dangerous as they wanted without risking themselves. Getting out of the complex quickly became even more important.

Din threw himself at the door, landing among thousands of shards of broken glass. Head throbbing, he pulled himself to his feet and got to work. At the data console, he rushed to disable the alarm system. Then he disconnected the sensor blasters.

As it turned out, the doors of the lab could be locked and unlocked remotely. That was an option that hadn’t even occurred to him, but now it was staring him in the face. Convinced that it would come in handy later, he unlocked every single one. 

For good measure, he gave the console a quick shot with his blaster and left it to smolder in his absence. Time to head to the basement, where the lab kept its victims.

As Din walked through the darkened hallways, he grew more and more on edge. There was an eerie, foreboding presence in the lab with him. Passing by emptied cell after emptied cell, he could not help but to glance over his shoulder. Din turned a corner and several things became obvious.

First of all, he was right. Something was about to go terribly wrong. Second, not all doors were supposed to be opened. Whatever these were, he’d let them out.

The last thing Din thought when he saw them was, _those things are not supposed to exist_. It looked like it hurt. Their skins seemed too small for their bodies, stretched taught over sharp bone and rippling flesh. Every pulse of blood and every twitch of muscle was visible beneath the thin membranes.

Maybe they had been people once. Maybe not. Either way, they weren’t people now. They were a horde. Din wheeled around. More were coming. They had followed him here.

The creatures swarmed him, scratching him with bloody, dagger-like nails. Claws stabbed through the fabric of his flight suit and dug into his skin, ripping through flesh. He pulled out his blaster and fired. The smell of blood and carbon scoring was so strong he could taste it, but for every creature he killed, another took its place.

Struggling to push through the horde, he threw his weight against them, crashing through their bodies. He ran. Din turned to fire at them relentlessly. Now that they didn’t have him surrounded, the fight was one he could easily win. They were shells, walking over each other’s bodies without seeming to care.

Panting, Din left them to rot. He knew where he needed to go.

The door rolled up at the press of a button, into a slot in the ceiling. Din crossed the threshold and fell to his knees. This little boy was the bright spot at the center of the universe. He was breathing and he was alive and nothing else mattered.

“Hey, little buddy,” he said. Hesitant, Grogu stared at him. Din nodded, and he toddled over as fast as he could, throwing himself into Din’s arms.

He cradled the child to his chest as he stood. A pair of small hands reached up, twisting the fabric of his flight suit. His arm was raw and throbbing from the fight, but he barely registered the flicker of pain. None of that mattered now. Suddenly, it struck him how small the boy was. He was no larger than a sack of ration powder. He was fragile. Or maybe Din was the fragile one. Something deep inside of him was breaking, like an egg shell crunching underfoot.

“I’m sorry.” The words he needed to say didn’t exist. How could they? Unspeakable things had happened because Din had allowed them to. “You are- If I’d known this would have happened- I’m so sorry. I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

With the pad of his thumb, he rubbed small circles on the child’s back. Grogu softly trilled, pressing his cheek into Din’s breastplate. “You are so important; did you know that? You deserve everything- so much more than this. I don’t know how to give it to you. But we’ll figure it out. I’ll protect you. I’ll be better. For you,” he promised. “You’re my kid, Grogu. I love you.”

Whatever he might have felt, Din had never allowed himself to claim the child as his. It had been a small degree of separation, and when it came time to give the child up, it made little difference. It had split his heart in two. At the time, he’d thought that the Jedi was the best place for the child to be. Things were different now. It was past time to admit the truth. Din had learned the subtle meanings of the noises and gestures the child gave, cooked his favorite foods, soothed him to sleep on rough nights. Grogu was his son. Din could be his father.

“Let’s get out of here.”

That’s when the bomb went off like a rolling clap of thunder. The walls around him began to shake. Din had no time to think and little time to react. All he had was instinct, screaming at him to keep the child safe. He dove, shielding Grogu with his body.

Before Din knew it was slipping out of his grasp, the world faded away. 

Inch by inch, Din’s consciousness returned. He did not remember losing consciousness, and he did not snap back to it. Instead, he drifted, slowly and gently, until he finally noticed he was awake. With a groan, he lifted his head off the rocks.

_No._

Grogu wasn’t moving.

Desperately, Din patted his cheek with one hand and with the other, he grappled for a pulse. His hands were shaking. His hands never shook. Finally, after an agonizing moment, the child began to stir. His eyelids fluttered open. A confused, sleepy warble escaped his lips. Din’s whole body sagged in relief. They really needed to get out of there.

He scooped Grogu up and stood. Then he realized what had happened. Oh, this tiny child wasn’t fragile in the slightest.

Nothing remained of the lab. There were sharp, half-melted plates of steel, large chunks of crumbled concrete, exposed wires, broken tubes for plumbing and air circulation. It was completely unrecognizable as a building. Neither one of them should be alive, but they were. Piles of crushing debris surrounded them on all sides, but somehow it had given them a wide berth, as if someone had cleared it all away.

“You saved us, kid,” Din said, breathless. He tucked the child into the sling against his hip and pulled himself out of the rubble. With each step, pieces of debris shifted under his weight, making the climb a complicated balancing act. Whenever it was free, his hand hovered around the sling, ready to catch Grogu if he started to fall.

The sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon. The trek back to the ship was dusty and cool even with the first few rays of light. Din boarded the ship and realized, not for the first time, how small the borrowed cockpit was. On the Razor Crest, there had always been space for Grogu to sit or to sleep during flights, but this cockpit was cramped even for him.

“Guess we’ll have to share,” he muttered.

Using his magic took a lot out of Grogu, leaving him even more exhausted than Din was. By the time they were in hyperspace, Grogu slept soundly, curled up in Din’s lap. Gently, careful not to disturb him, he rubbed the pad of his thumb across his child’s knuckles. His hands were small enough to wrap around his fingers. Din looked up to the stars. Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever been knocked unconscious before? Looking back, I only remember waking up.


End file.
